Device for protecting door ends



Feb. 19, 1952 J. H. MALARKEY 2,586,240

DEVICE FOR PROTECTING DOOR ENDS Filed May 18, 1948 1 INVENTOR. 37 3/ /9 JAMES HfRBERT MALARKEY MJM ATTORNEYS Patented Feb. 19, 1952 DEVICE FOR PROTECTING noon ENDS James Herbert Malarkey, Portland, 0reg., assignor to M and M Wood Working Company, Portland, 0reg., a corporation of Oregon Application May 18, 1948, Serial No. 27,752

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a device for protect- 1 ing door ends and the like from the time of manufacture until the doors are ready to be hung. After their manufacture, doors are frequently handled and stored in a vertical position with the lower ends of the stiles resting on the fioon' When the doors are moved about in this position they do not slide readily on a floor surface, and any irregularities such as nail heads and the like projecting up from the floor will often cause the end grain of the stiles to splinter and damage the door. The common practice in door manufacturing is to trim the door to proper width and length ready for hanging. The door ends are protected from slivering and splitting by wooden cleats which are either stapled or glued to the door. A large percentage of these cleats fall oif or are knocked off in transit while the doors are being moved from place to place with the result that the door end is not protected as,

Ill

intended from the point of manufacture until it is ready to be hung. Glued cleats have been found particularly unsatisfactory for the purpose because they have a tendency either to stick very insecurely or to stick so tightly that they often cannot be removed without damaging the door.

Objects of the present invention are to provide improved means for protecting the ends of doors to overcome the shortcomings of wooden cleats, to provide a protective device which will not only protect the end grain of the stiles but which will form a glider scuif strip to make the doors slide easily in vertical position on a rough floor, to provide a protective device which Will hold the corners of the lower edge of the door away from contact with the floor when the doors are tilted as when they are leaned against a wall, to provide a protective device which may be made in some distinctive shape or design to serve as a trade-mark identification of the goods Which will be visible when the doors are laid in a hori-' zontal position, and to provide a plurality of protective devices of the type described in a long strip for economy of manufacture and facility in use.

The invention comprises a flat base plate hav-' stile, and to cover and protect the end grain of the wood at the side edge of the door. The base plate is provided with a raised portion forming a protuberance or mole which may take different shapes to serve as a symbol or trade-mark, provided the shape of the design meets certain special requirements. One requirement for the present purpose is that the raised portion or portions have at least some parts thereof extending out substantially to the margins of the base plate so that when one of the devices is applied to the lower corner of a door stile the door may be tilted to a considerable angle in all directions from the vertical without bringing the corners of the end of the stile into contact with the floor. Another requirement is that the raised portion should be of a configuration to leave room for prongs in the fiat base portion at a distance in from its edges. 7

The protective device may be made in difierent ways, but it is preferred to stamp or deform a raised glider surface out from the material of the base plate and to form at the same time a plurality of prongs projecting out on the other side of the base plate to be driven into the end of the stile, the prongs being struck out from the base plate in such a manner as to leave a small hole in the base plate adjacent each prong. When the device is made in this manner, it is apparent that the prongs must be struck out from the flat part of the base plate outside the area of the raised glider surface. The prongs are preferably at some distance in from the edges of the base plate so that they will not have to be driven into the stile at points too close to the face surfaces thereof which might split the wood. These requirements are well satisfied by a single raised portion of diamond, oval or cross shape which extends out substantially to the margins of the base plate at its ends and sides, but leaves sufficient flat area for the prongs in the corner portions of the base plate at a distance from its edges. The mentioned requirements are ideally satisfied by two parallel elongated raised moles surrounded by a marginal portion of the flat base plate and having a flat central strip between the moles for the prongs. The raised surface may also be formed in other shapes consistent with the above essential requirements, as will readily occur to persons skilled in the art, but the best results are obtained when the raised surface does not have a shape similar to the outline of the fiat base portion.

The present protective device bears some re semblance to a common furniture glider but the latter is not satisfactory for use on door stiles because it does not protect the corners of the stile when the door is tilted and because it is not designed for use on a rough floor. Furniture gliders are easily pulled off by nail heads and other projections on a rough warehouse fioor, especially when slid in a tilted position. Furniture gliders now in general use have no flange protection around the margin of the glider with the result that a blow in a tilted position tends to impress one edge of the glider into the wood and raise the opposite edge away from thewood. Subsequent movement on the floor then easily pulls the glider oif the door. There is also the probability of splitting the stile if the blow is severe.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds in connection with the accompanying drawings illustrating certain preferred embodiments. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are for the purpose of illustrating the invention and not for the purpose of limiting the invention, as the same may take various other forms, and all such modifications within the scope of the appended claims are included in the invention.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a fragmentary perspective view of the lower corner of a door showing one of the present protective devices applied to the end of the stile;

Figure 2 shows a plurality of the protective devices connected together in edge. to edge relation to form a strip;

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a view showing a manner in which the protective device may be applied to a door;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary edge elevation view of a plurality of doors standing on end in leaning position;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary elevation view showing a door in an edgewise tilted position supported on the present protective device;

Figure 7 is a plan View of a modified form of protective device;

Figure 8 is a sectional view taken on the line 8-8 of Figure '7;

Figure 9 is a plan view of another modification; and

Figure 10 is a sectional view taken on the line lfll0 of Figure 9.

In Figure 1 there is shown a door i0 which has a vertical stile l l on either side thereof, each stile having a lower end [2 on which the door is adapted to stand on end. A protective device 13, made according to the present invention, is secured to the bottom end i2 of the stile to hold the stile off the floor when the door is standing on end, and to provide a skid or glider for sliding the door on the floor in either vertical or inclined position.

Figure 2 shows the form of the protective device 13 in greater detail, and shows how the devices may be made in strip form attached together at their edges for use in a suitable mechanism for securing them to the doors. Each piece 13 comprises a rectangular base portion i l and a raised surface 15 having end portions 16 extending substantially to the ends of the base portion and having side portions ll extending substantially to the sides of the base portion. In Figures 1 and 2 the shape of the raised surface I5 is a diamond, leaving flat corner areas I8 for striking out tongues of metal at E9 to form prongs 20 at a distance back from each marginal edge of the base portion. The base portion preferably has a width almost equal to the thickness of the door I stile to which it is to be applied and has fiat marginal portions in the nature of a continuous flange of variable width extending entirely around the raised surface l5 and including the corner areas it). Thus, when the device is applied to the end of the stile as shown in Figure l, the prongs are far enough in from the edges of the stile to prevent splitting the wood.

The edges of the raised surface l5 are rounded on all sides, as indicated at 2! in Figure 3, to provide a good skidding or glider surface, even when the doors are tilted. This surface is raised sufficiently so that when the doors are tilted laterally, as shown in Figure 5, the side portions- I'I extend out far enough to prevent the stile itself from touching the floor, and when the door is tilted edgewise as shown in Figure 6 one of the end portions i6 performs the same function. In all positions of the doors in which they are ordinarily handled, the smooth raised surface i5 with its rounded edges 2| provides a runner so that the doors may easily slide across a rough floor surface without the possibility of damaging the door itself. By providing a large bearing surface on the base portion M extending outwardly on all sides of the raised surface 15, the tilting of the door or the sliding of the door in any direction in a tilted position will not tend to pull the prongs 20 out of the wood as might happen if the flat base portion Hi did not extend over a greater area of the surface of the stile than the raised surface 15. When the door is dropped in a tilted position no part of the base can become impressed into the wood to raise the opposite side of the device away from the wood.

So-called gliders heretofore made for furniture and the like are not suited to the present purpose because they are not adapted to slide a heavy weight in inclined positions as shown in Figures 5 and 6 or to be dropped in such positions, but are usually designed for use on members such as chair legs and the like which are always maintained in a definite vertical position with respect to the floor surface. If a heavy door were dropped on a furniture glider in the positions shown in Figures 5 and 6, the glider would be impressed into the stile at the point of application of force and the opposite edge would be raised away from the wood. Another objection to furniture gliders is that they may be caught on the edge and pulled out of the door by projecting nail heads in the floor, particularly after the door has been dropped in a tilted position. In the present device the runner surface 15 is continuous with the flat base Hi to override such obstructions without catching, since the device always remains flat against the wood.

In Figure 2 the base portions is of the several pieces [3 are partly severed along dividing lines 25 so that the devices may be made in along strip to be fed between guides 26 and 27 for application to the door 10 as shown in Figure 4. A pneumatically or mechanically operated plunger 28 is adapted to break off the lowermost device 53 from the strip and attach it to the door stile by driving the prongs 2!! into the wood. Any other suitable means may be employed for expeditiously applying the protective devices to the doors, and the strips need not necessarily be partly severed in their manufacture. The driving mechanism may include a shear to sever the individual pieces from the strip.

Figures '7 and 8 show a modified form of protective device having an elliptical raised surface I50. with end portions 16 extending substantially to the ends of the fiat base portion l4 and side portions l7 extending substantially to the sides of the base portion as shown. The edges 2| of the raised portion are rounded on all sides so that the device will slide equally well in all directions on the floor and so that it Will form a satisfactory glider in any direction of tilt. The elliptical shape of the raised surface leaves extensive fiat corner areas 18 in the base plate I to form the tongues or prongs 20 at considerable distance from the edges of the device to avoid splitting out the wood adjacent the faces of the stile. In general, this modification embodies the same features and advantages as were mentioned hereinabove in connection with the device l3 having a diamond shaped raised portion, but provides a distinctive trade-mark symbol.

A. somewhat different modification is shown in Figures 9 and having a fiat rectangular base 30 with two spaced elongated raised surfaces 31 forming parallel protuberances or moles. Sufficient space is left between the two raised surfaces 3| to leave a strip 32 0f the flat base portion of sufiicient width to form the tongues or prongs 20 from holes [9 on a line through the middle of the base portion. This arrangement of the prongs and raised surfaces permits the placing of the ends 36 of the raised surfaces very close to the ends of the base 30 and the outside side portions 37 of the raised surfaces very close to the sides of the base without crowding the prongs 20 close to the edges. The prongs 20 are thereby disposed to be driven into the central part of the end of the stile where there is no danger of splitting the wood. The base plate has sufficient flange width on all sides of the moles 3| to prevent any edge of the device from being driven into the wood when the door is dropped. The two narrow moles 3| have greater strength and stiffness than the larger raised surfaces in Figures 1 and 7 so that a thinner gauge metal may be used for this embodiment.

With the use of the present protective device, door stiles may be cut to the proper length in their manufacture without the risk of being damaged by the time the doors are ready to be hung. The doors may be dropped on their ends or corners and they may be skidded without harm in either upright or inclined positions on a rough floor. The prongs 20 acting in conjunction with the broad flat base in each form of the device secure the device firmly to the stile so that it will not become loosened or removed by dropping or sliding the doors on their ends, but allowing the device to be readily pried off with a screwdriver or the like when the door is ready for use. When the doors are laid horizontally the present protective devices provide trade-mark identification of the manufacture. It is of course understood that all embodiments of the device are made in strip form as shown in Figure 2 but not neces sarily having the lines of partial severance between the consecutive pieces.

Having now described my invention and in what manner the same may be used, What I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A device for protecting a door end comprising a flat base portion having a width substantially equal to the thickness of the door to which it is to be applied and providing a flat bearing surface against the end of the door stile, a raised surface disposed in a plane equidistant from the plane of the base and having parts extending substantially to the marginal edges of said base portion for elevating the door above the floor, and prongs struck out from the bearing surface of the base plate opposite said raised surface at a distance from the marginal edges thereof for securing the device to a door and the like, said flat base portion extending entirely around said raised surface.

2. A device for protecting the end of a door stile and the like comprising a rectangular base plate having a width substantially equal to the thickness of the stile to be protected and having fiat marginal portions on all sides of said plate providing a flat bearing surface against the end of the door stile, a raised glider surface disposed in a plane equidistant from the plane of the base plate and having portions extending substantially from end to end and from side to side of said base plate but leaving fiat areas of said base plate inwardly from the edges of the plate, and prongs struck out from the opposite surf-ace of said base plate in said areas at a distance from said edges for attaching the device to the door end.

3. A device for protecting a door end and the like comprising a flat base plate having a width substantially equal to the thickness of the door end to be protected, raised glider surfaces on op' posite margins of said base plate extending substantially to each side and from end to end of said base plate but leaving a centrally disposed fiat portion of said base plate therebetween, and prongs struck out from said central portion for attaching the device to the door end.

JAMES HERBERT MALARKEY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

